The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-10-05

o titaA up % 1871 only 1AbstoJ AaQ D6eu &C
y lected and paid into the Treasury. DO
Il that money got there / am unable to sa
i since I can find no law prior to the act
= July &c, 1873 which authorized payment
& amy Of the money Except, perhaps ii
rents) into the State Treasury. 1 viii he
state that no copy Of this Journal is in Il
State Library, nor can find one, nor c
Z 1 application to Prof Aayes could l get on
as he had none.
Gov. Brown in his message of January
= 1886 (see House journal, p. Il. states tht
! up to that time only S79.54s.76 had bee
collected and paid into the State Treasur.
There was collected in 1916 and paid i
tsee Auditors Report 1S48, Il. J., .. 6s
Si3,794 II, and from January 1, l847, t
Nov %, 1847, $I,73546. (See II. J. of 1876
p. 69l. There were also collected variOu
small sums las shown in Table p prior t
Feb. %, 1913; which made total collection
at that dats sos. .6G7.O3. and these were al
accounted for in the statements of the il
debteduess of the State TO the Seminar
fund made by Treazurers Clark and Griffith
coming up 10 said 23rd of February, an
hereafter more fully explained.
The subsequent payments shown by tn
books of the Treasury, amount in tn
whole to~s3l ,O67, showing whole amount o
the fund collected by the State and paii
into the Treasury to be $129, 74462. Yol
VIII, I hope, rememb Der this when it i
shown that the State has paid to the Uni
versity over one million of dollars, to wit
SLI64,33 40. (See Table l..
These items of payment, before Noyem
Der, 1647, are derived, as before stated
Those subsequent are derived from Grif
hth's Ledger, PIP. IA, 176, 245 and 3l6, anC
Hussey's journal, PIP. l3, 20 and 27
TIE ACT OF 1913.
On July %, 1843. the Legislature enacted
| lsee II. c.. p. 225, sec. H. that the Treas
| ureF should state an account of all monies
I heretofore aud thereafter paid into tn,
state Treasury. and should allow interest
/ at five per cent. on sums heretofore
/ paid, and eight per cent should b.
/ credited annually on all sums showr
! by his books to be due the fund
| from that time forward. Gen. Clark, a
most faithful officer, complied with the
! laW and stated balance due the fund on
| July 20, 1917, of 02,311.40; and Gen
/ Griffith, in pursuance OF law passed Feb
I ., I8+5 (H. O., p. 235, Art. 39) stated an
! account of all sums due, as shown by the
+ books of the Treasurer on that date, show
/ ing a balance then due of S7S.511.5O. This
final balance was found after paying the
| $4,000 appropriated by the act of 1916
I Il. c.. p. 230) for the erection of the Uni
versity buildings. The State, in Griifith's
account, based on Gen. Clark's, accounted
therefore for the balance then due of $78,-
51I50, and the amount paid to the Uniyer-
sity, $4,000, making SIPS, ,51i.5 50 accounted
for, on payments into the Treasury of only
SJS677O3, the excess of S29,834.47 over
actual payments being interest calculated
under the act of lS43-
This interest accumulated mostly by
compromising at eight per cent. in four
and one-haH years for very small pay
ments we're made prior to July 26, 1843,
and interest on them to. that time, being
only five per cent? had reached such
astonishing proportions that the Legisla-
ture deemed it proper to call a halt, and so
then they repealed the said I1th section of
the act of 1843, and directed that interest
should be paid thereafter at six per cent.
simple interest. And here / will copy the
said tn section of the act of I843, as it
seems to cut so important a figure in this
case.
1T shall be the duty of the Treasurer of
''the State to keep a distinct and separate
account of all monies HERETOFORE AND
HEREAFTER PAID INTO THE Treasury of the
State on account of said Seminary fund,
and THE TIME WHEN PAID; it shall be his
duty also Immediately after the passage OF
this act, to credit the said fund with inter
est at the rate Of five per cent per annum
upon all monies heretofore paid into the
Treasury from the time when so paid to
the passage OF this act, and thereafter he
shall annually credit said fund with
interest at the rate of eight per cent. pei
annum, upon all monies due from the State
to said fund"
Now this would seem to a plain common
| sense man to mean exactly what Judge
Hutchinson, the compiler of the Code and
an able lawyer, said it meant, in the Ian
guage in italics, by which he prefaced the
| section, viz; Treasurer to keep a separate
account of this fund and credit il, retros
| pectively, with five, and prospectively with
| eight per cent. interest on what has beer
and is to be paid into the Treasury" Bu
| by the use of the words, at the end of the
section, "all monies due from the State tC
| said fund.-" an unexpected result wa;
made to follow. For when the Treas
urer had, on July 26th, 1S43, credited
the amount heretofore paid in, with
| interest, and then on the next 26th o
July, he came to make the credit o
| interest on all monies DUE FROM the Stat
to said fund, he found that the State, &C
cordinC to his entries, owed the fund no
only the principal but also the interest
and if there had been any intermediate pay
ments he would credit the interest on then
from their date till July 26th, 1874; and h
would also find that was due when h
came to make his next credit, and then h
would credit interest on both principal ant
interest; and so on from year to year, an
in this way, under this phrase, "An monte
)
allow compound interest. This, / may con
cede, is probably the true construction o
the statute though, after a good deal O
reflection, | am inclined to agree wit
Judge Hutchinson. 1t is clear that Coy
Brown thought only simple interest wa
allowed by this statute, {see his messag
! of 1916, II. j. p 14). | doubt whethe
, any member of the Legislature who vote
for it, except the author of the bill
understood that compound interest wa
provided for. If the rule so ofte
/ | applied by the Supreme Court c
the United States, and of this State {
grants to corporations, were applied her
the meaning ought to be as Judge Hutel
/ inson thought it was. The Supreme Coul
of the United States, in reference to sue
, grants, says; Nothing can be inferre
: against the State. As reason for tn
r rule, it IS often stated that such acts al
usually drawn by interested parties, an
q they are framed to claim all they are ent
I tied to- (See Slidell Il Grandjean, III |
e 5. r., p. 437.l And in another case, speal
a ing on the same subject, and speaking
r the rule which requires statutes to be COZ
= strued strictly against corporations, Il
4 same Court says; The rule is a wise on
e it serves to defeat any purpose concealt
s by the use of terms, 10 accomplish som
= thing not apparent on the face of the aC
a and thus sanctions only open dealings wi
) legislative bodies" (See Is Wallace,
o POS
1t is true the University was not tht
= formally incorporated, but it had be,
: named in the law of 1910, ''The Universi
of the State of Mississippi" as a distin
# legal entity, and had been made the grant
/. of the Seminary Fund tsee II. c., p. 22l
: and the site had been chosen, and its loc
: ton actually made. {See ii. c., 221, Art. q
ii So it was clearly within the meaning of Il
r rule.
But let that 60 When the Legislatu
- discovered what had been done, they r
:. pealed the act on February %, 1s4s.
"a But this celebrated 18th section was n
s only made to do duty as authorizing Il
"A payment of compound interest at per cer
J. on the fund paid into the Treasury. but
a Is also now claimed to mean an acknov
W edgement of the liability of the State
i the University Fund, for all the uncollect
q portion of it. as 1 infer, as the State nev
ar disputed It's liability for the part paid in
l. the Treasury {see University pamphlet,
q 1927. and as fixing the rate of interest
= the whole The Justice of the claim is
IN incomprehensible to me that do not pr
u pose to examine it until see the groul
= on which it Is based.
III THE ACT OF 1s4s.
er
N We now reach February IS, 1s4s, VIII
he the University was to go into operatio
81 An, act was then passed for the 6 Furth